BUFFALO, N.Y. — The Buffalo Sabres traded star goalie Ryan Miller and captain Steve Ott to the St. Louis Blues on Friday night for goalie Jaroslav Halak, forward Chris Stewart, prospect William Carrier, a 2015 first-round pick and a 2016 third-round pick.
The Central Division-leading Blues shored up their goaltending in an attempt to avoid another disappointing playoff run after being eliminated by Los Angeles in successive seasons.
Miller won the Vezina Trophy as the NHL’s best goalie in 2010, the year he was the Most Valuable Player of the Olympic tournament in Vancouver, and is Buffalo’s franchise leader with 284 victories and 540 games. This season, he’s 5-22-3 with a 2.72 goals-against average and .923 save percentage. He’s 284-186-57 with a 2.60 GAA and .916 save percentage overall.
The deal is the Sabres’ first major move since general manager Tim Murray was hired in January after Buffalo fired Darcy Regier.
Sabres coach Ted Nolan was set to start Miller on Friday night against San Jose, but the goalie and Ott did not take the ice for warmups and were scratched.
The Sabres acquired Ott from Dallas along with defenseman Adam Pardy in exchange for Derek Roy on July 2, 2012. Ott had 18 goals and 26 assists in 107 games for Buffalo.
Halak was in his fourth season with the Blues after spending his first four years with Montreal. He has a 24-9-4 record with a 2.23 goals against average, a .917 save percentage and four shutouts this season.
Stewart has 15 goals and 11 assists in 58 games for the Blues this season, and 115 goals in a six seasons with Colorado and St. Louis.
The 19-year-old Carrier was the Blues’ second-round pick in 2013.
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